Flight Safety Information
September 8, 2011 - No. 186
In This Issue
Russian investigators probe KHL jet crash
New Air France mishap revives crash debate
Medvedev Demands Russian Airline Reforms Following Crash
Pilot's error on fuel level cited in probe of deadly helicopter crash
Homeland Security Committee Member on Flight Canceled After Security Breach
Yak-42 flights suspended after fatal Yaroslavl crash
Russian investigators probe KHL jet crash
Investigators in Russia were searching Thursday for the flight recorders from a jet that
crashed a day earlier, killing most of the members of the Kontinental Hockey League's
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team.
The recorders are believed to be in jet's tail section, which is partly submerged in a
river.
The crash killed 43 people, including 36 members of the Lokomotiv club. The team's
Canadian coach, Brad McCrimmon, and former Vancouver Canuck star Pavol Demitra
were among the dead. Two people, including hockey player Alexander Galimov and a
crew member, survived the crash.
The jet went down shortly after takeoff from an airport in Tunoshna, near the city of
Yaroslavl, about 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow. The team had been heading to
Minsk, Belarus, for the first game of its season.
The aircraft reportedly struggled to gain altitude and hit a signal tower before it
crashed.
"The Yak-42 aircraft involved in the crash was due to be decommissioned next year,"
Karen Percy reported from Moscow. "An investigation is underway into the remaining
Yak-42s still flying, but there's also speculation today that poor quality fuel was used."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday visited the site of the crash, where he
placed flowers and paused to mourn the dead. He also met with rescue workers and
officials.
"The number of air companies should be radically reduced and it's necessary to do this
within the shortest time," Medvedev said in comments broadcast on Russian television.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2011/09/08/russia-crash-
lokomotiv-investigation.html#ixzz1XMapAbyj
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New Air France mishap revives crash debate
PARIS (Reuters) - An Air France (AIRF.PA) flight in July suffered similar technical
problems to a jet that crashed into the Atlantic two years ago, French media reported
on Tuesday, reigniting a debate over the disaster's causes.
Air investigators told France's Le Figaro newspaper the details of the latest incident
involving one of the company's Airbus (EAD.PA) jets might make them think again
about what made flight AF447 crash off the coast of Brazil in 2009.
Investigators have so far stopped short of explicitly blaming the pilots for the 2009
disaster, which killed 228 people -- but their reports have highlighted mistakes they
said were made on the flight deck.
Pilots' unions and Air France insist the faulty flight equipment was mostly to blame.
Both Airbus and Air France are facing criminal probes in France and lawsuits on both
sides of the Atlantic.
In its online edition on Tuesday, Le Figaro said it had obtained a report on an incident
on an Air France flight from Paris to Caracas in July.
"This incident certainly takes on a particular importance in the light of the Rio-Paris
accident," a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying.
"It will help us to understand whether there was a problem with the Airbus or in the
training received by flight crew in manual aircraft handling at high altitude," the source
said.
Two crew were injured in the July incident which occurred on an Airbus A340, but
there were no victims, Le Figaro said.
The BEA confirmed it had opened an investigation, but refused to say whether the
flight experienced problems similar to the 2009 crash of the Airbus A330.
Le Figaro said the report showed that like AF447, the A340 hit severe turbulence while
cruising at 35,000 feet, and accelerated rapidly, causing the autopilot to switch itself
off.
The jet then climbed sharply and began to lose speed, as with AF447, but managed to
remain in flight thanks to a reduction in the turbulence and the rapid response by the
crew, the newspaper said.
Air France was not immediately available to comment.
An airline security source close to Airbus told Le Figaro the July incident was clearly
complex, and would revive speculation over the aircraft-maker's role in the 2009
crash.
The BEA air accident authority has said the pilots lacked training to handle the freezing
of speed sensors and failed to discuss stall alarms as the Airbus jet plummeted 38,000
feet.
Air France disputes this and says instruments went haywire.
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Medvedev Demands Russian Airline Reforms Following Crash
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday called for tough reforms of the
country's airline industry while visiting the site of an airplane crash that killed one of
the country's top ice hockey teams.
Medvedev said Russia should drastically reduce the number of airlines operating in the
country, quickly replace its aging fleet of domestic aircraft, and provide better training
for flight crews. President Medvedev added that if Russia could not produce reliable
aircraft it would have to buy foreign-made planes.
Meanwhile, rescue workers have recovered the bodies of all 43 people who died
Wednesday when their private Yak-42 passenger plane crashed into the banks of the
Volga River in the city of Yaroslavl, about 240 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
On the plane were members of Russia's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, many of them
international hockey stars. Several coaches and club officials were also killed. One
player and a member of the crew remain in critical condition.
The ice hockey team was heading to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, for its opening
game of the season.
President Medvedev Thursday ordered a thorough probe into the cause of the crash,
which is the latest in a series of fatal plane disasters and transport accidents in the
country.
Last month, 11 people died when an Antonov-12 cargo plane crashed after trying to
make an emergency landing in Russia's far northeastern region of Siberia. In June, a
Soviet-built Tupolev passenger crashed in northwest Russia, killing 45 people.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Medvedev-Demands-Russian-Airline-Reforms-
Following-Crash-129444518.html
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Pilot's error on fuel level cited in probe of deadly helicopter crash
By BRAD COOPER
The pilot of an ill-fated medical helicopter overestimated his fuel level before the
aircraft crashed into a Clay County field and killed all four people aboard, a new
federal report says.
The pilot of the Eurocopter AS-350-B2 reported he had two hours of fuel in the tank
when he left his home base at Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph on Aug. 26,
according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the National Transportation
Safety Board.
However, after making the 28-minute hop to Harrison County Community Hospital in
Bethany, Mo., to pick up a patient, the pilot told flight dispatchers that he didn't have
as much fuel on board as he thought before leaving St. Joseph.
After talking over fueling and routing options with the company's communications
center, the pilot opted to stop for fuel at Midwest National Air Center in Clay County
and then proceed to his destination, Liberty Hospital.
As the plane left Bethany at 6:11 p.m., the pilot radioed that he had about 45 minutes
of fuel left and asked dispatchers to notify Midwest National that he was inbound for
fuel, the report said. The refueling station was about four nautical miles closer than
Liberty Hospital.
The aircraft, operated by Air Methods Corp. of Englewood, Colo., crashed in a farm
field at 6:41 p.m., 1.7 miles northeast of the fueling station.
The report said the helicopter crashed when it lost power as the pilot performed an
autorotation, a technique used to land a helicopter with engine failure. There was no
"post-impact fire."
Craig Yale, vice president of Air Methods, said company policy calls for pilots to plan
for having at least 20 minutes of fuel left when they arrive at their destination.
"We would require that any flight being taken be able to have sufficient fuel and
sufficient safety reserve," Yale told The Star on Wednesday.
Yale said the company is still trying to understand how and why events unfolded and
couldn't comment further because of the ongoing federal investigation. The NTSB's
final report may not be completed for about a year.
Crew members killed in the crash were Randy Bever, 47, a flight nurse from
Savannah, Mo.; Chris Frakes, 36, a flight paramedic from Savannah; and James
Freudenberg, 34, the pilot, from Rapid City, S.D.
The fourth victim was the patient, Terry Tacoronte of Colorado.
Tacoronte had been suffering from stomach pains for about a week and was being
transferred because physicians in Bethany thought she needed to see a specialist in
Liberty, said Gary C. Robb, the lawyer for her husband.
Robb said there was no medical emergency basis for moving Tacoronte by air.
Freudenberg joined the company in 2010 after flying for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.
He had 2,153 flight hours, most of them in helicopters, Yale said.
Jon Kettles, a former military pilot and an aviation legal specialist from Dallas, says he
wonders what led the pilot to fly even though it appeared the helicopter was low on
fuel.
"What's motivating this pilot to do the things he did?" Kettles asked.
Kettles said it's common for medical helicopters not to have their tanks topped off
because of the need to balance the weight of the fuel with the passengers and medical
equipment they have to carry.
"It's always a trade-off of payload versus fuel range," he said. "If they flew around all
the time with full fuel, they could probably only carry one medic, less equipment and
things like that. It can be done safely."
Tacoronte's, husband, Victor, has filed a lawsuit claiming that Air Methods took
unnecessary risks by running with low fuel levels.
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/07/3127569/pilot-overestimated-his-
fuel-level.html#ixzz1XMcZA9Cz
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Homeland Security Committee Member on Flight Canceled After Security
Breach
A flight from Dallas to Washington was been canceled after a traveler reported that
two other passengers were acting suspiciously.
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-TX., a member of the Homeland Security Committee was on
board the scheduled flight and told Fox News the flight crew took repeated ten minute
delays before police officers boarded the plane to remove the suspects.
Farenthold said his wife called his attention to the men and that other passengers had
notified a flight attendant about their suspicious behavior.
The suspects were reportedly wearing loose fitting track clothes, and Farenthold said
one of them had a computer printer.
He said he heard that one of the passengers had put a bag in the overhead bin in First
Class, and that another passenger had complained, which prompted the flight
attendant to talk to the pilot.
The congressman said the pilot announced that there was a security breach and that
passengers needed to get off the plane to go back through screening.
Farenthold called his office who then notified the TSA that there was a congressman on
board. He was then escorted off the plane.
Farenthold said that while press reports may say the incident isn't a big deal, when
you're sitting on a plane a few days before 9/11 and there is a security breach, it
"certainly gives you a wake up call."
He said he suspects that everyone is more on guard than they normally would be, and
that this experience will make him change his behavior to be more alert.
Federal officials say they talked to the two passengers and released them without
charges.
There were 140 passengers aboard the American Airlines flight at Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport on Wednesday.
The airline says all the passengers were put on later flights to Washington.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/07/homeland-security-committee-
member-on-flight-canceled-after-security-breach/#ixzz1XMnocbon
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Yak-42 flights suspended after fatal Yaroslavl crash
Russia's transport supervisor has ordered the suspension of Yakovlev Yak-42 services
in the country pending precautionary checks following the fatal crash at Yaroslavl.
Rostransnadzor said there would be a "one time inspection" of the fleet including the
type's fuel systems and engines. Yak-42 aircraft are powered by Lotarev D-36
turbofans.
There are 16 airlines in Russia operating 57 of the type, Rostransnadzor added. The
organisation also said it would check aircraft maintenance, compliance with flight
preparation and other aspects of flight safety at Yaroslavl Tunoshna airport.
Thirty-seven passengers and eight crew members were on board the aircraft, which
came down about 1.4nm (2.5km) northwest of the airport after departing for Minsk.
The aircraft broke up and part of the fuselage was submerged in water.
Russia's health ministry said it had received two seriously-injured occupants from the
jet at a municipal facility.
The accident occurred at about 16:05. Russia's emergency situations ministry said that
it had sent an Ilyushin Il-76 with response personnel to the scene of the crash, and
added that lighting equipment was being set up to enable investigators to work in
darkness.
Russia's general prosecutor's office said it would ascertain the compliance of various
parties with air safety regulations.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/07/361731/yak-42-flights-suspended-
after-fatal-yaroslavl-crash.html
Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP
CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC